Advice from UK Lockies

[mcm757207]

I live the United States which seems to have absolutely no locks except for wafer locks, pin tumbler locks, and the occasional abloy on a vending machine. From a business stand point this is not a bad deal because the shop I work for can be very specialized- I have gotten very good at picking pin tumbler locks, but not lever locks. However, the hobbyist side of me really wants a bit of a change. On this topic, I have a question for locksmiths in the UK:

What is the single most common door lock in the UK, and how can I go about ordering one? I see lots of different names mentioned in the EU forums, but I'm not sure which to get. I don't suppose someone would be willing to sell a used one?

Thanks

[SteveW]

Hi mcm,

The most common lock in the UK is probably the Yale rim cylindr lock in all its various guises. But i assume you are talking about mortice lever locks. I could not say what is the most popular as it varies from area to area.

In my area (London) i most commonly come across ERA, Union and Chubb locks and a few Legge. If you want a fine example of a British mortice lever lock i would recomend a Chubb 3G114 or go for a Union or ERA if you want something cheaper.

Try http://www.ebay.co.uk

Good luck

[chrisjc33]

I manchester(uk) the most common mortice i come across are ERA profit and ERA invincible.

[mcm757207]

Yeah, there are quite a few on ebay but the shipping is incredible from the UK to Colorado I guess I'll just have to wait till I can afford it, thanks for the help though.

[nicholls]

Hi

There is a two basic types we see alot in the UK,

Euro cylinders

Mortice locks

Euro cylinders are basic and are generally the same pin and keyway design as seen in the states, they range in different security 'increments' from poor european imported locks with 5 to 6 pins which are easy to pick, to high security cylinders from the top manufactures like abus and mul t lock.

Mortice lever locks is the top favorite and in my view the most secure, well the BS standard ones anyway. Mortice locks range from the sash lock (latch and deadbolt) to deadlock (deadbolt only) and typically go from 2.5" to 3" depth. In the past they used to go in half inch increments up to 18"!!!!! If you want some you best get a range, I'd say get:

Era Invincible & profit, Chubb, Legge and Yale seem to be the types that crop up our way. Although you do tend to come accross Imperial, Union, York from time to time.

On steveW's note yeh you do come accross nighlatches a lot, then again you can open most of these with a credit card, crap security.

[illusion]

you can open most of these with a credit card

hmm.. a credit card wil not do offset doors, and most are like this... that's where mica comes in... or the letterbox gets paid a visit...

[nicholls]

LOL!!! yeh have lots of mica

[nicholls]

HEHE ok you got me.

How long have you been lock smithing?
I have just started, yet in the world of super advanced pickers they know most of the stuff i want to know.

I guess this forum is probably the only way for me to get information to pick locks more efficiently. Hey, but im sorry mate if im being a bit brainless about some of the answers and question i give. All the lockies I have met have been good honest people, i hope your one of them!!!

Cheers.

[Shrub]

I dont think so, if annoys some people including me when a noob to picking and someone who baically has had a bit of an idea given to them by someone else and only knows drillng locks comes on and although maybe trying to answer peoples questions they arent and instead actually get it wrong and give the wrong answer, this is mis-guiding and leads other noobs down the wrong path to begin with.

Some people you can read through their past posts and take note that they actually dont know much about locks at all and unfortunatley this is one such case and im obviously not the only one to think so.

Yes we were all new at some time but personally and the norm is to actually wait until knowledge is gained before passing it on to others instead of either making things up or guessing and giving false info.

It may seem harsh and may sound as though its all directed at nicholls but unfortunaly it seems newer members with only one or two posts to their name also seem to think they are some sort of lock expert before even picking a lock, its becoming far to common and noobs are getting answers off these people before the ones that really know get chance to actually answer the questions correctly. Look at jason13, hes giving advice to noobs now

This has lead to 2 things, the older more respected members have left or no longer come here that often, im not saying im any expert, senior member or fountain of knowledge but its put me off coming here so often recently and secondly its filling the site up with rubbish which in the end will just make every other post a lie.

Another very valid reason for lack of new info on this site is that these new noobs of the younger generation seem it fair to copy stuff onto cds and sell them either on ebay or pass them around mates and another bunch deem it nessacary to post a lot of the stuff eleswhere on the internet for whatever reason.

Thats only my opinions and the way i see it, illusion may have differant ideas or may just have been having a laugh or in a bad mood i dont know but i for one am fed up.

[bonez]

mmm crap security!

toolbox £20

picks £100

the look on your face when you snap your credit card!!!!!

PRICELESS!!!!!

[illusion]

mmm crap security!

toolbox £20

picks £100

the look on your face when you snap your credit card!!!!!

PRICELESS!!!!!

thank you... classic

[acl]

Shrub i agree some of Nicholls posts have been misleading but he is by no means in the minority is he? Some people answer every single question put up even if they have nothing to say(normally me when im hammered!) Have none off the people who layed into him posted anything that was inacurate? Im not getting into a slagging match here but Nicholls was told he was talking out of his ar*e which i thought was a little rude so i said so(both these posts were deleted)

[SteveW]

Bonez

I am inclined to agree with Shrub, the worst advice is bad advice which is given with a lack of knowledge.

I have only been a member of this site for a short time myself and since i joined i have been amazed at the amount i have learnt. The amount of information and experiance available here is huge so dont abuse it !

I do occasionally dish out a bit of advice of my own, but what is important is to only post if you have something relevent to say .If i dont have the relevent knowledge and experiance i dont say anything. Most important, is to recognise that if you are missinformed and do say something dum/stupid/wrong etc. then accept your mistake at least you will have learned something!

I cannot stress how important the info and contacts i have made on this site have been to me in the last couple of months!

Use the search,
Read the threads,
Ask the right questions,
and you will find the answers.

Dont Bul**hit!

[nicholls]

cheers acl and stevew.

and sorry to the guys that have been here for ages.

Yeh ive been here for a couple of months and i agree with stevew the amount of knowledge you can gain from others is outstanding, including you illusion. On the note of credit cards, that was just plain silly, OK i shouldn't have mentioned that. I never use it anyway, even in the shops!

As for toolbox, i was given me that free and my range of picks that i have is growing, about £500 worth i think now, even some i have made my self out of sheet spring metal, supplied by my local ironmongers

[illusion]

okay,

lol... I was cranky that night anyway so that was the main contributor to me flaming, but also the suggestion was so daft it kinda encouraged me to get offensive somewhat... apologies for going OTT...

Glad you found use for some of my more useful posts

problem resolved as far as I'm concerned